Poolside guests at a newly-opened Las Vegas hotel have been enjoying the complex's quick-tan facility - a solar "death ray" with the power to burn flesh and melt plastic.
Artist's rendering of the concave Vdara hotel The architects responsible for the MGM Mirage Vdara underestimated the converging power of the building's …

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The lady's horse goes trip trip trip

Must... stop... laughing

Did nobody think that it might be a better idea to make the convex side of the building North-facing? Did they not think that building a massive curved mirror IN THE DESERT might focus the sunlight? Or maybe, just maybe, this was the world's best practical joke on the part of the architect...

On the plus side.....

Can't they model it?

Surely someone can model the effect, then they could mark out areas on the ground where it will occur over different times of the day and year? Not a fix, I know, but at least then umbrellas could be moved ahead of time and people could be adequately warned.

Hi-tech solutions

but...

...it looks so pretty!

"This is quite literally an astronomical challenge. We are dealing with a moving target." Technically true, but it's not like the path of the sun across the sky is an unknown, for any season. define a parabolic walled garden area, do something useful on it, solar cells or water heating, claim to be environmentally friendly, feature not flaw, etc.

Flames because...well, stay in the deathray too long and burst into flames :D

Re: but...

>"...We are dealing with a moving target." Technically true

Depends on how technical you care to get. Relatively it is false. It as long been accepted, even by the church, albeit reluctantly, that the earth moves around the sun hence the sun is a stationary target. In addition the trajectory of the focus point on any given day is due more to the rotation of the earth than any perceived movement of the sun.

Vapourise?

Quality..

I'm still wiping the tears out of my eyes. This must be the funniest cock-up ever, and the beauty of it is that there is little that can be done about it other than marking an area unusable. It's an epic, real live, god-knows-how-many-floors-high monument of a cock-up.

Which dipswitch of an architect hasn't learned about concave and convex?

Hahaha, I would not believed that from a James Bond plot, let alone in real life. LOL...

Little that can be done

There's something that can be done - mount the building on a big pivot and turn it into a useable, aimable deathray! It's fortunate that MGM owns the majority of the Vegas strip and as such doesn't have many buildings that it could contemplate blowing up..

re: your James Bond comment - you missed Die Another Day then, specifically the Icarus project? Understandable as you were probably p1ssing yourself laughing at the ridiculous invisible car :)

Exception

Actually, not true

Many bombs are "defused" by setting off an explosive device on a large water tank beside them - a "Projected water disruptor". A shaped charge blasts water into (and through) the supposed bomb, and tada! No more bomb.

Paris...

Where Archimedes failed

Exeter had the same phenomena!

A building in Exeter (Renslade House?) exhibited the same phenomena ....Crossing the Northern bridge across the river Exe one would receive a blast of radiation from the concave office block at certain times........despite best efforts it never melted a plastic bag but it certainly provided a welcome blast of heat on a chilly day......

I never knew that.

Possible fixes?

a) Alter the angle of the individual window panels so that they point up, or outwards. Or, you could get really clever and make them steerable, see b)

b) Put a solar collector above the affected area, either photo-voltaic or simple water heater. If you go with steerable window panels in a), it needn't be enormous. Not cheap, but it'll pay for itself eventually and you'd probably get a grant off the government.

c) Put a non-reflective coating on the affected windows. Cheap-ish, but the heat has to go somewhere so it'll pummel the air con, and the rooms will be darker.

Talk to the Spaniards, they just built a power station that does this deliberately. I think there's a couple in the US, too.

France FTW

"The term "solar furnace" has also evolved to refer to solar concentrator heating systems using parabolic mirrors or heliostats where 538 °C (1,000 °F) is now commonly achieved. The largest solar furnace in the world is at Odeillo in the Pyrenees-Orientales in France, opened in 1970."

Re Alan Edwards: Just correcting your point (b)

Cue oblig Thunderbirds quote...

in old man voice:

"It will be a great disaster"...

google the episode where the solar mirror to beam the sun's rays into a dark alpine valley falls over when struck by lightning and the next day starts a fire when the misdirected reflections hit a thatched roof...

right on

If you are looking for a cost effective solution you have to install solar panels over the affected area. At least most of it. There could be days when the extra heat might be welcomed. And certainly anyone is smart enough to move to the shade when they are beginning to boil off their sweat.